Unexpected Allies
by mists of avalon
Summary: Trowa has been captured. He's about to give up all hope when he recieves an intriuging note from a mysterious stranger. What happens next? Read the story to find out.Ch 4 coming soon!
1. Finding Hope

            Trowa Barton groaned.  He was in a lot of pain, and he felt like he was about to pass out.  He tried to dodge a heavy blow aimed at his stomach, but his weakened muscles couldn't move fast enough and he doubled over in pain.  It swept over him in waves and he knew he was close to losing consciousness.  Apparently his torturers knew it too, because the last thing he heard was, "Back to his cell," before he was lost in a pool of blackness.

~*~*~*

            Hours later Trowa woke up in the pitch-black cell he had called home for the past two months.  He felt he was going to be sick but could only retch painfully as he hadn't eaten in several days.  In addition to physical torture and isolation in a pitch-black 5x7 cell, they were trying to starve him.  But he was Trowa Barton.  He wouldn't crack, right?  Trowa wasn't so sure anymore.  With constant beatings, continuous darkness, and no end in sight, he was hard-pressed to find any hope.  He laid back and stared into the endless blackness.  Suddenly a shaft of light broke through the darkness.  Trowa stared in wonder and blinked at the brightness, all the while thinking he was dreaming.  He stuck his hand into the light as if to test its reality.  His eyes followed the light to its source.  A pair of green eyes watched him through the tiny slot in the cell door.

            "Hungry?" The speaker's voice sounded young and had a rough quality to it.  Trowa did not usually bother conversing with the guards, but he detected something different in this one's voice; a lack of cruel sarcasm and disdain.  When he failed to answer, the guard began to turn away.  Trowa quickly mustered the last of his strength to reply.

            "Why, sick of starving me?"  The guard stopped mid-turn and spun around.

            "So you can speak.  I would watch the sarcasm if I were you."  The guard's voice now had a playful, teasing tone. Another section of the door opened and a grubby hand wearing a glove with the fingers cut off pushed a food-filled tray through the opening.  Then the section closed and the green eyes appeared once more in the tiny slot.  "Be careful, Barton."  The guard switched on a dim light in the cell, shut the slot in the door, and left.  Trowa dragged himself over to the tray and was surprised to find that it contained more than just the slop they called food.  There was also a small roll of paper.  He unrolled it curiously and found the following words scrawled in brown ink:

                                    _Ten o'clock shift change._

_                                 Tomorrow night. Be ready._

            Trowa looked in the paper in wonder.  Be ready?  For what?  Was someone actually crazy enough to try and break him out of here?

*Author's notes: Did ya like the beginning ch? I hope so! I know it is very short but more will be coming soon. I promise. Thanks to Cactuskitty for being my guinea pig and reading my new story ideas for me. More to come soon, and reviews are appreciated!


	2. Escape Attempt

            Trowa lay curled up in fetal position, trying to sleep.  He tossed and turned in the darkness.  He couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious note he had received.  Several hours later, he finally drifted off, the strange message still running through his mind.

            _"Trowa.  Trowa!"  A cool feminine voice called his name, and soft hand touched his cheek.  "Wake up, Trowa!"_

_            "Catherine!" He reached up to hug his foster sister.  As he began to embrace her, her smile froze and she became oddly stiff.  As Trowa pulled away, he saw that she had turned to glass.  Horrified, he backed away, only to see her shatter and crack into a million tiny pieces.  Trowa turned on his heel and took off running._

_            "Trowa. Hey Tro, over here!"  The voice calling him this time was deeper and lighthearted.  He turned and saw Duo Maxwell._

_            "Duo," he sighed in relief as he reached for Duo's hand, "It's good to see-" Trowa stopped mid-sentence as Duo seemed to freeze and became glass and then shattered from the touch of his skin.  "No!"  Trowa turned and ran again, this time to be confronted by his best friend, Quatre Winner.  'Come on, please be real, Quatre!'  He silently begged the likeness of his friend._

_            "Trowa."  Quatre's gentle, calm voice brought quiet reassurance to Trowa like no other could._

_            "Quatre."  Trowa's fingers barely brushed Quatre's skin.  Quatre shattered.  Trowa cried out in anguish and fell to his knees.  As he hit the floor, he felt it shatter.  Then he was falling, falling… and a pair of green eyes was watching him._

            Trowa awoke with a start.  He was covered in a cold sweat.  He shivered and tried to shake the dream off, but it would not go.  Finally he got up and began pacing.  A screech of metal against metal could be heard as the food slot was opened and a new tray of food was pushed through.  Trowa wondered why he was being fed again so soon.  But then he noticed another tiny roll of parchment.  He pulled it open and saw the same brown-ink scrawl of the night before:

_Take care at the changing of mutual friends._

_Numerous weapons may be found._

_Eyes shall be your clue._

_Watch yourself, and forget not your benefactors._

            This message was more coded than its predecessor, but Trowa could still understand it.  It was a warning.  The first sentence was basically saying be careful at shift change, the time the sender of the notes had told him to be ready.  The second was telling him that extra "weapons", or guards, would be on duty tonight.  The third was a bit more puzzling.  Trowa reread the line again.  _Eyes will be your clue…_ As he searched his mind for the answer to the clue, he leaned back against the wall.  His eyes closed halfway and his dream drifted back to him.  Embracing his friends… Glass shattering… Falling, falling… and he was watched by- "Eyes!" he exclaimed and sat up suddenly.  The current guard on duty pulled open the eye slot and looked around suspiciously.  Trowa quickly closed his eyes and tried to look inconspicuous.  Seemingly satisfied, the guard shut the slot, and Trowa was left alone again.  He had deciphered the third sentence.  He would know the writer of the notes by the green eyes.  As for the last sentence, well, the first part was obvious.  It was another warning telling him to be careful.  And as for the forget not your benefactors part, he supposed that meant make as much trouble for his captors as they had made for him.  That would not be a problem.  Outside his door, Trowa could hear the clink of guns being set on the weapons rack.  That meant the noon shift change was taking place.  Trowa sat down to wait the ten long hours until the ten o'clock shift change, but got back to his feet when he heard gunfire right outside his cell.

            "Stand back!" yelled a muffled voice.  Trowa wondered if this voice was addressing him.  "Get the hell away from the door, Barton!"  Yes, he was pretty sure that whoever-it-was was talking to him.  He quickly moved as far to the back of the cell as he could.  Just as he reached the back wall, a huge explosion shook the entire complex.  Before the dust had even begun to settle, a shadowy figure rushed forward and grabbed his hand and dragged him forward.  Trowa looked at his rescuer's face, but it was covered, all but the green eyes.  This must be the mysterious writer of the notes, and the "guard" from yesterday.  But nothing was supposed to happen until tonight…  He contemplated this while they ran down the hall.

            "I thought you weren't coming until tonight!"  His rescuer looked back at him.  The green eyes seemed to be smiling and yet worried at the same time.

            "Change of plans.  They moved up your execution.  It was scheduled for tomorrow, but they switched it to this afternoon."

            "Oh."

            "I thought you might want to miss that appointment."  His rescuer's voice dripped with sarcasm.  "By the way, you can call me Shadow."  Shadow's steps slowed as they approached a split in the hallway.  "Something's not right.  Uh oh…"  Within seconds they were surrounded by armed guards.

            "Hands behind your heads!" barked the head guard.  "Now!"

            "Seems your rescue plan was rather short-lived," Trowa whispered.

            "Yeah," was all Shadow could say as they both slowly raised their arms skyward.


	3. Girls vs Boys

            The guards moved forward cuff Trowa and Shadow's hands.

            "Hey, when I say now, hit the deck, ok?" Shadow muttered.

            "Huh?"

            "Drop to the floor when I say now!" Shadow repeated.

            "What do you-"

            "NOW!"  Trowa fell to the ground as Shadow pulled out guns from two hidden leg holsters and fired off several rounds, taking out most of the guards. The few that hadn't been hit were quickly knocked out by Shadow's flying fists and feet. Trowa looked up in surprise.

            "Wow." Shadow dropped the guns, grabbed his arm, and began dragging him down the hall.

            "No time to talk.  Come on." They ran for several more minutes before Shadow stopped them again, this time beneath an air vent.

            "They're on to us."

            "We're not going up there?"  Trowa asked.

            "Give me a boost, will you?"  Trowa just sighed and interlaced his fingers, creating a step.  Shadow clambered lightly onto his hands, shoved the vent cover upwards, and slid into the opening.  A few seconds later a hand, still gloved with the fingers cut out, reached down to pull him up. "Let's go."  Shadow quickly led him through the dizzying maze with speed and skill, and before long they stopped again at another vent. "Ok, now all we have to do is sneak out the back door."

            "Doesn't sound too hard," Trowa replied as Shadow pulled up the vent cover and dropped silently to the ground.

            "Let's go."  Trowa followed Shadow's lead and lowered himself down just as quietly.  They snuck down another hallway and met up with another squadron of guards.  "The door's straight at the end of this hall!" Shadow yelled.  "Run for it, I'll catch up with you!"  Trowa turned and sprinted for the door as Shadow pulled out a small gas cartridge, uncorked it, and flung it into the middle of the pack of guards.  "See ya later boys!" were Shadow's last words before following Trowa out the door.

*~*~*~

"That was close."  Shadow pulled off the long headdress, revealing tendrils of reddish brown hair held back by a strip of cloth tied across her forehead.  "Sorry about the secrecy," she said, indicating the head coverings.  "But I couldn't risk being recognized."

            "You're a girl?" Trowa stated with uncharacteristic surprise.

            "Yeah, so?" She replied coolly, tossing her hair behind her shoulder.

            "You're tough.  For a girl, I mean."  
            "Oh, well thank you very much," she retorted sarcastically. "We should keep moving, they'll be tracking us soon."  She opened her knapsack and pulled out a forest-green trench coat.  "Put this on," she said as she tossed it to Trowa.  "It will help with camoflauge."  She then removed her guard uniform vest and pulled on a coat identical to the one she had just given to Trowa, except that it was a deep chocolate brown.  She dug through the knapsack and pulled out two more guns.  One she placed in her right leg holster, and the other she tossed to Trowa.  "Come on, Barton.  Don't want to fall behind a girl, do you?"  Then she turned on her heel and headed into the forest.

*Author's notes: Sorry, another short chapter. Thanks to all my reviewers, computer geek michelle, anne laure, Silver Serpent, skyfire 1, RVD, and fyre_faerie_gyrl. Another chapter is on the way…


	4. My Sincere Apologies

I've decided I hated Chapter Four and I took Trowa completely out of character, so I've removed it. I'll try to write a new chapter to replace it ASAP. 


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